Posts Tagged ‘Wong’

I’ll tell you, I worked at a bank back in the day, back in the pre-digital camera era, and I’ll tell you, there’s no way a typical analog camera would get this kind of image of an alleged bank robber. Particularly since the old-school cams had to be tripped manually when the time came, owing to the expense of film.

San Francisco police are seeking the public’s help in locating a bank robbery suspect who has robbed four downtown San Francisco banks since March 22. In three of the incidents, the suspect approached a bank customer already at the teller window and placed a knife to the customer’s throat. While holding the knife, the suspect demanded and was given currency from the teller. The suspect then fled the bank. In one of the three incidents, the hostage victim suffered a non-life-threatening knife wound.

The first incident on March 22 occurred at Citibank, 1801 Van Ness Avenue. There was no customer threat or weapon used in this incident. Two days later, on March 24, the suspect entered the East West Bank at 743 Washington Street and held a knife to the throat of an Asian male customer at the teller window. On April 2, the suspect went into the Wells Fargo Bank at 1160 Grant Avenue and again held a knife to the throat of a customer, an Asian male. This was the incident in which the customer was injured.

On April 5, the suspect entered City National Bank, 150 California Street, stood behind a 90-year-old Hispanic female customer at the teller window, and held a knife to her throat. After demanding and receiving currency, the suspect fled the bank. The victim was not injured.

The suspect is described as an African-American male, 30-40, 6’, 175 lbs, black hair with mustache and goatee. The suspect wore a dark baseball cap in each incident. Surveillance photos of the suspect accompany this press release.

Anyone with information regarding the suspect is urged to contact Inspector Phillip Wong, Criminal Investigation Unit, 553-1201, to call the Confidential Tip Line, 415-575-4444, or to use Text-a-Tip by typing TIP411 or 847411 in the “To” field and “SFPD” in the text field.

For more information, please contact the Media Relations Unit, 553-1651